Ed Murray to City Council: ‘Pick up the phone’

State Sen. Ed Murray told seattlepi.com Thursday that he was troubled by comments from Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin, who said a piece of legislation Murray worked on was “stealing” from Seattle because it prohibits the City from levying a Safeco Field parking tax.

Murray

Instead, the bill, which ultimately aims to pay for arts in the Seattle area, allows the public authority that runs Safeco to charge a 10 percent parking tax. PubliCola, which reported on the matter earlier Thursday, quoted Conlin as saying “they’re stealing $200,000 from us.”

Murray said he was stunned by those comments, as the City had supported the bill, in all its versions. He said the language in question was not hidden, nor a surprise.

“This is the language that was in the House bill, that the (House) Speaker supported. This has been language in all the proposals. This has been in the bills the City of Seattle supported,” he said.

“I’m surprised by Richard Conlin’s comments,” continued Murray, who is often mentioned as a serious potential candidate for Seattle mayor in 2013. “We thought the City was on board with this. I’m kind of stunned. I don’t what else to say. What kind of game is this?”

Murray continued: “I am happy to go back and try to open this up if that’s what the City wants. If we go back and open it up, I worry about the underlying arts issue…What worries me about Richard Conlin’s comments. If the City Council of Setatle wants to work with their legislative delegation, they ought to pick up the phone and talk to us instead of shooting at us through the blogs.”